


Just Forget The World

by secondalto



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Awesome Pepper Potts, Bucky Barnes Feels, F/M, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, bucky isn't the winter soldier
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-16
Updated: 2015-03-16
Packaged: 2018-03-18 03:25:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,733
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3554276
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/secondalto/pseuds/secondalto
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Two people from different centuries, ending up together.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Just Forget The World

**Author's Note:**

> Based on the snippet from [What Could Have Been (Two)](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1944837) Part of the concept taken from [this](http://avengerkink.livejournal.com/19458.html?thread=45670914#t45670914) kinkmeme prompt.
> 
> Takes place after Avengers. I've aged Pepper younger for reasons. 
> 
> These two. *sighs* I'm inoridinatly proud of Pepper's words.
> 
> With thanks to Citymusings for the beta and asking some good questions. And to Rainne for pushing me when this was giving me headaches.

The table was cold and hard. Whatever the little rat bastard had given him made Bucky dream, hallucinate. Whenever he closed his eyes he saw home. He saw his ma and his sisters, the tiny apartment he shared with Steve. Steve. Small, reckless Steve who was like a brother to him. (No matter where they lived and what people said, they weren’t more. They had explored the possibilities, but more just wasn’t for them.)

Bucky also saw the endless parade of women (and the few men) he’d dated. He’d known none of them would last, when they had words and he didn’t. That was one of the many reasons he and Steve had bonded, neither of them had words. Oh, the doctors all said it was ‘cause Steve was weak and his body didn’t have the right whatever to produce one. But Steve was so bright, so warm and so full of love that Bucky knew no one deserved a mark more than he did.

An explosion rocked the building. Bucky felt the table wobble a little. Were they under attack? Would he be rescued? He heard footsteps and tensed. He began the familiar litany of words again.

“Barnes, James B. Sergeant. 32557038. Barnes…”

“Alas, my dear sergeant,” said the rat faced Zola as he appeared in Bucky’s field of vision. “You are the best subject yet. I believe someone is trying a rescue attempt. It would be a shame to lose you.” Zola turned, speaking to someone Bucky couldn’t see. “Take him to the chamber. Bring it the loading docks. Then take all the evidence to Berlin.”

Zola left and two other men loomed over Bucky. They freed him from the restraints, then lifted him off the table and began dragging him between them as they went deeper into the bowels of the factory. Bucky tried to struggle, but it was pretty useless; whatever Zola had done to him, he was still weak. The men led him into a room that was lit up like Christmas. In the back stood a tall tube; it looked like something outta one of those pictures Steve loved so much. The men dragged him to it, and he tried to fight. All of his limbs felt like lead. Turning him around, they pushed him into it. The door had a tiny window at head level. As it closed over him could see one of the men on the side of the tube, doing something. Then all he felt was cold.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Steve tried hard to stifle a yawn. After the battle with the Chitauri, he’d driven off to nowhere in particular. When he’d returned, he’d asked Fury for something, anything to do. Anything to take his mind off of the pain of losing Bucky. Steve had been put to training SHIELD recruits in strategy and occasionally hand to hand. He was also brought things from the archives that had been seized by the SSR in the hopes that he’d know what they were. After two weeks of that, he’d asked if there was a better way of doing it.

A day later Jennifer (not Jenny) had shown up. She was an archivist and took him down to the warehouse once a week. Steve was mostly muscle, moving boxes and other things around, but he did help out in identifying things. Jennifer had just gone to make a call about a box of ammunition that might interest the science division, leaving him to have a brief break. All of the digging around in the archives brought back a lot of memories. He closed his eyes and leaned against the wall, remembering.

He remembered the rush of adrenaline, the sharp hint of fear and anxiety when he’d heard about the 107th’s capture. He remembered the anger from the confrontation with Phillips. Bucky wasn’t dead. Steve would have known if Bucky was dead. He could recall how Peggy

( _God, she’d been so… there had been moments he’d wished he’d had her words, but even Erskine’s serum hadn’t given him any_ )

Had helped by corralling Howard into flying them all into enemy territory. He remembered the drop from the airplane hearing Bucky’s voice in his head _(you fucking idiot, Rogers! Why would you go and do a damn fool thing like that? I ain’t worth it.)_

Steve could taste the night air, hear the guards, and feel the weight of the prop shield in his hands. He remembered the heady rush of exhilaration of _finally_ being able to do something with the new body he’d been given. The spark of hope that he would get to see Bucky and show him how healthy he was now. He made his way into that factory bolstered by that hope. Steve remembered that most of all.

He could feel the heaviness of the atmosphere as he found the prison cells; searching, always searching for Bucky. He remembered the Howlies, though he didn’t know their names at the time. He could hear the echoes of his footsteps down the halls of the factory, peering into each and every room looking for Bucky. Steve remembered the deep seated fear, he’d half-heard the whispers that his friend was likely dead, like all the other men who had been taken.

He could picture in his mind the room with the empty table. He had known, unsure of how or why, that Bucky had been there, that Bucky was no longer there, which meant that Bucky was… An explosion, this one from inside the factory, had spurred him from the room. The next few memories were blurry, as if he’d been stuck in a dream, or a waking nightmare. Red Skull, the march back with the survivors, Phillips. The next thing Steve could clearly remember was being in his tent and letting Peggy in.

“Steve?” her voice had been soft, gentle.

“Huh? Oh… uh, Peggy, come in.”

She’d come in, sat herself right next to him on the cot. “He wasn’t there.”

It hadn’t been a question but a statement. Steve had tried to say something, but found his voice strangled. Everything he’d been holding back came forward in a wretched cry torn from his throat. Peggy, god bless the woman, had taken him into her arms and let him break down.

“He’s… he’s gone, Peg,” he’d sobbed. “Bucky… he’s gone. I won’t… he can’t… ‘m better now and he…”

Peggy ran a hand through his hair. It had reminded Steve so much of what Bucky used to do when he was sick that Steve heaved out another body-wrenching sob.

“I’m so sorry, Steve,” she’d whispered.

“How can… I can’t… Peg, Bucky’s gone,” he’d choked out. “I gotta go, I can’t do this.”

At that statement, Peggy had hauled him up into a sitting position and slapped him, just once, across the cheek.

“Don’t you dare speak like that Steven Rogers,” she’d said sternly. “Bucky wouldn’t have wanted that for you, would he?”

“No,” Steve mumbled, his breath hitching as a few tears continued to roll down his cheeks.

“He’d want you to fight for him, for his family. Yes?”

“Yeah,” Steve had nodded.

Peggy continued. “Then by God, you do that Captain Rogers. Abraham Erskine did not die for you to quit now and neither did your friend.”

Steve sniffed, wiped his eyes with the back of his hand and swallowed hard. “I will. Thank you, Peggy.”

“You’re welcome, Steve.”

“Wish I could be _‘I’ll help you with those, Agent’_ ,” he said. She’d told him her words back in New York, commiserating when he’d said he had none.

“Sometimes I wish you could be, too,” she’d said as she stood and left the tent.

Phillips had let him have his own team and Steve would always remember the sting of not being able to have Bucky there on it. He’d made it through the next two years day by day. If he had dreams about actually rescuing Bucky, he told no one. If he broke down most nights, thinking about his best friend and brother, none of the men said anything. Day by day, Steve did what he’d been born, what he’d been rebuilt to do, fight the bullies.

It had given him no pleasure to capture Zola, especially when it meant nearly losing Gabe in the process. He’d known going after Schmidt was a suicide mission. He’d comforted himself with the knowledge that he’d see Bucky again. The God Steve Rogers believed in would allow him that mercy. It turned out that there was a higher power than the Almighty and Fate was a cruel bitch.

Steve remembered the confusion and anger when he’d woken up. The terrible realization that everything he’d known was gone when Fury told him seventy years had passed. And Bucky was still dead. Even the revelation of his words ( _Forget America, God bless Steve Rogers_ ) hadn’t lessened the pain, the ache, the gaping hole in his life that was Bucky. Darcy ( _It’s a pleasure, Miss Lewis_ ) was a blessing, a balm to most of the depression and heart sickness he felt. But not all of it. She was there for him, always listening, never jealous of a dead man. He would have to remember to tell her he loved her when he got back home.

Steve sighed. Jennifer reappeared, giving him a moment to gather himself.

“Do you need a break, Captain Rogers?” she asked.

“No, I’m fine for a while, we can do one more section,” he replied. “And I said you could call me Steve.”

She frowned but led him to the next room they’d be cataloguing. The room was dark, so Steve fumbled for a light switch. Both he and Jennifer groaned when they saw row after row of boxes. A glint of something caught his eye from the back of the room.

“What’s that?” he said.

“I’ve no idea, let’s have a look,” she replied.

Pushing aside boxes, Steve made his way through the room, Jennifer following. He kicked up decades of dust that would have triggered an asthma attack back in the day. When he finally made it, Steve could see it was some kind of tube with a porthole at the top. The glass was frosted over inside and he could hear a faint hum from the tube. A quick glance around the side revealed where it was plugged into the wall. There wasn’t a label on it or a file nearby to tell him what was inside, but Jennifer was investigating the boxes nearby to check. Curious, Steve tapped on the porthole. The ice cracked a little. Another slightly harder rap and he could make out a nose. A person was in there. Steve gave the glass a thump with the flat of his hand. What was revealed nearly brought him to his knees.

It was Bucky.

Steve stumbled back, crashing into a few boxes before he ran into the wall. Jennifer was there asking if he was okay. He couldn’t answer but after a moment he fumbled out his cell phone. A few shaky tries later, he called Darcy.

“Whaddup, Cap?”

“Darce… I… it’s,” he stammered, sinking to the ground as he stared at the tube and the face of his not-so-dead friend. Jennifer was frantically looking through the boxes now. He guessed she was trying to find a file on the tube.

“Whoa, whoa, are you okay, Steve?” He could hear the worry in her voice.

“I’m… no, Darce,” he croaked. “I need Tony. Bruce. Hell everyone.”

“Geared up? Where are you? What’s happened?”

“SHIELD warehouse. No, but… There’s something they need to see.”

*~*~*~**~*~*

In the twenty minutes it took for everyone to make it to the warehouse, Jennifer had found the file that went with the tube and Bucky.

“A lot of it is in German, I don’t read German,” she’d said.

“I do,” Steve replied. “Thanks for…,” he gestured with a hand. “I went a little…”

Jennifer smiled. “It’s okay. It’s not every day you find your best friend frozen in a tube in the middle of a warehouse. I should… leave you alone. The rest of the day is shot. Let the director know if you want to keep helping,” she said. “It’s been a pleasure, Cap… Steve.”

She handed him the file with a soft smile. “Thanks, Jennifer.” She nodded and left him in the room with the file. Steve wanted to look at it right away, but he needed to do a few things first. He moved more of the boxes out of the way, making a better path for the team. Then he ate the two power bars he’d stuffed in his pocket, not really tasting them. They wouldn’t be enough to completely satisfy his needs but they’d keep him from feeling the crawling edge of hunger.

Finally he went back to file, sitting on top of a pile of boxes. Steve settled on the floor, right in front of the tube so he could see Bucky’s face. Bucky looked like he was sleeping. Steve shook his head and opened the file. There were reports of experiments that had happened in the factory in Austria. Steve fought down the bile as he passed by pictures of the men who hadn’t survived. Then he got to the pages on Bucky. From what he could make out, Zola had been trying to recreate the Erskine serum. The doctor had left behind partial files when he’d fled and Schmidt wanted superiority over the enemy.

Bucky had been the only one to survive. There were indications that Zola had wanted to do more tests, but nothing much else happened. The last date on all of the notes was the day Steve had infiltrated the factory. If only he’d gotten there sooner, if he’d been a little bit faster, stronger… The sounds of voices shook him from that train of thought and he leveraged himself off the floor.

“Okay, Cap, what is so important I had to stop right in the middle of… whoa,” Tony said, pausing in mid-step as he caught sight of the tube. Bruce and Clint were right behind him. “Is that…?”

Steve nodded, holding out the file for Bruce who’d pushed past Tony. “Bucky.”

Tony moved from the doorway to survey the tube, looking at it from an engineering perspective, probably. Clint just stood next to Steve, putting a hand on his shoulder in support.

“This is… I mean, I knew they were a little ahead of us in some things,” Tony commented, his hands running over the metal. “But this? This is… we’ve only really just started figuring this kind of thing out in the last five years.”

“How long has he been like that?” Clint asked.

“Since ’43,” Steve answered. “He was put in there in the factory.”

“The one you parachuted into unassisted?” Clint said.

“That’s the one,” Steve said with a rueful smile. “Went to rescue Bucky. Probably didn’t miss him by much.”

“He seems in good health,” Bruce said, peering at the controls. “I’d like to get him back to the Tower, run a few tests. Looks like Zola wasn’t a hundred percent sure what effects the serum might have had, if any.” Bruce stood up, closing the file. “But given the fact he was the only one who survived and he’s still alive in there…”

“He might be like me,” Steve whispered.

“Do you think Fury knew about this? About him?” Clint asked.

Steve shook his head. “I don’t think he would have sent me here if he did.”

“Thank god someone had the foresight to plug it in.”

“It was probably more like, hey it has a plug, let’s plug it in and figure out what it does later,” Tony said pulling out his phone. “We brought a helicopter; a big one. I’m sure there’s a generator around here somewhere. We’ll get him back to the Tower, see what’s what. That good, Rogers?”

“Fine, Tony, I just…” he huffed a laugh at a thought that crossed his mind.

“What?” Clint asked, an amused look on his face.

“If we’re only counting years not frozen, I’m technically older than Bucky now. By almost three years. He was the older one, before.”

Clint just thumped him on the back gently, but congenially. It took almost an hour to get the tube hooked up to a generator, moved to the helicopter and transferred to the Tower. Steve never stopped looking at Bucky’s face the entire time.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

He was warm.

As Bucky floated towards consciousness this was the first thing that registered, the warmth. Whatever he was lying on was soft. There was the low hum of people talking and the steady blip of something. The smell of antiseptic and bleach underlying everything clued him into where he was. He’d know that smell anywhere; Steve had been in a few hospitals when they were younger. He moved around, testing his body as he tried to crack an eye open.

“Hey, Buck, you’re okay.”

He knew that voice. He finally opened his eyes and looked up into the much fuller face of his best friend. “Steve?”

“It’s me, Buck,” the face smiled. Steve was… bigger, healthier than Bucky had ever seen him.

“Thought you were smaller,” Bucky rasped.

“Well, I thought you were dead,” Steve smiled. “Why don’t you rest some, Bucky? I can explain everything when you wake up again.”

Bucky wanted to say no, wanted to ask how Steve had changed. But the lure of sleep pulled him back down into oblivion.

*~*~*~*~*~**~

The next time he woke up, the hospital smell and steady blip were gone, but Steve was still there. He was sitting in a chair by the bed, head in his hand and sleeping. Bucky moved around, wiping the sleep from his eyes as he sat up and took a good look at Steve. Bigger, heavier, healthier Steve. What had the punk gotten himself into?

“Hey, Sleeping Beauty,” he said, tossing one of the pillows at Steve’s head.

It hit Steve square in the head, knocking him forward and jolting him awake. He turned and grinned brightly at Bucky. Bucky had missed that grin. It made Steve look like one of the angels in the stained glass of his ma’s church.

“Bucky,” Steve breathed, moving to sit on the edge of the bed. “How are you feeling?”

“Pretty good, considering. Where is this place? Pretty ritzy for wartime.”

Steve hesitated. He had the worst poker face and Bucky was ready to call him on it when Steve spoke up again. “What’s the last thing you remember?”

Bucky shrugged, pretty easy answer. “Being on a table in a factory. We’d been sent there to blow it up. Was full of some nasty characters, Stevie. One fella, name of Zola, he… he was doing things. Took me, said he liked me, and stuck me in a tube and all I remember after that was cold.” Steve looked pensive. “How long was I in there, Steve?”

Steve just reached across Bucky and pulled aside the curtain on the window. Bucky looked out at a scene that was both familiar and strange. It was Manhattan. He’d been there a few times looking for work. There were more buildings and so many cars but not like he remembered. And the people. He gaped for a while then looked back at Steve.

“Seventy years, Buck.”

Bucky shook his head. “Then how… But you…”

“Yeah, about that…” Steve started, rubbing the back of his head. “I kinda put a plane down in the ocean over Greenland. Got stuck in some ice. I’ve not been out quite a year.”

Bucky let that sit in his head for a minute, getting ready to brew up a rant about being a fool and doing the fool thing, but the biggest question muscled it’s way to the front first. “How’d this happen?” he asked, waving an arm up and down to indicate Steve’s size.

“Um, right after you left me at the Expo? I kind of tried to sign up again?”

“Left some of the stupid behind,” Bucky muttered.

Steve grimaced. “There was this doctor; he was contracted with the government, made this serum and it…”

“Turned you into every woman’s wet dream?” Bucky taunted, knowing how bad Steve was with women.

“Something like that. Doctor Erskine, he’d come from Germany, tried the serum there on someone, a man named Schmidt. We think Zola was working for him and that you…”

“Might have got dosed with it?” Bucky could feel his stomach souring.

“A version of it, yes. But apparently I interrupted him. I tried to save you, Buck. I was there at the factory,” Steve said, his voice choking up.

“Hey, hey, none of that punk,” Bucky said, reaching for his friend. Steve leaned in for the hug. It felt weird that Steve was so much bigger now. “You’re here, ‘m here, s’all that matters now, right?”

Steve moved away, smile a little watery. “Right. I missed you so much, Buck. You’ll love it here though.”

“Where is here, exactly?”

“It’s a tower, belongs to Howard Stark’s son, Tony. I’ve… I belong to a pretty good team here, maybe you could join them,” Steve said. “And there’s so much I wanna show you.” Steve moved off the bed and started pacing the room. Bucky watched him, fascinated by this new version of his friend. “Oh! I nearly forgot!” Steve exclaimed, his whole face lit up.

“What?” Bucky asked.

“I got words, Buck,” Steve replied, pointing to his left leg. “And she’s just… she is wonderful, Buck.”

“That’s… that’s great, Stevie,” Bucky’s heart sank, just a little. “Gonna hafta introduce me.” He faked a yawn.

“Oh, I should let you rest some more. Bruce said that the unfreezing process would be hard on your body. I’ll come back tomorrow, okay?” Steve said. He was like a goddamn puppy. Bucky had forgotten how eager Steve could be when he was happy.

“Sure thing, buddy,” Bucky replied. Steve approached him and they hugged for a few moments before Steve pulled back with another goodbye. Stevie had his words, had met his soul mate. It had taken several decades, but it had happened. Bucky sat there, staring out at the new world he found himself in.

He wasn’t tired. But there were other things he had to take care of. The bathroom was right there with the biggest damn shower Bucky had ever seen. After emptying his bladder, Bucky fiddled with the knobs and got the temperature just right. He used something called body wash to clean himself with and washed his hair. There were the fluffiest damn towels he’d ever seen hanging there and he grabbed one as he stepped out. Then he saw something in the full length mirror.

He had words.

They were right there along his shoulder blades. It took him a minute to figure out what it said. _How can I help you, Sergeant? Or do you prefer James?_ Huh. So his soul mate knew who he was. That could be a good sign. His soul mate knew his name. Maybe being in the future wasn’t so bad after all. Bucky had his best friend, and he had a soul mate.

*~*~*~*~*~*

Pepper Potts started out life thinking she was lucky. Her parents did, all of her friends did; she had the name of her soul mate as part of her words. She was far luckier than a lot of people, especially those who had generic words like _“Thank you”_ or _“Hello”._ It wasn’t until she was about nine that she realized that the name she had marked on her stomach wasn’t all that common. It had to be a nickname, but for what she could never figure out.

She spent a lot of her pre-teen years asking a lot of boys what their nicknames were. Then her best friend Emily suggested it might be because of his teeth.

“You know, really big front teeth, like a beaver?” Then she proceeded to make a face and Pepper giggled, which led to Emily giggling and it was left at that.

By the time she hit high school, Pepper was convinced she would never find her soul mate. Then her junior year she took AP American History. When Mr. Felix announced they would be doing an entire week on Captain America, all the boys went wild. Pepper just hoped Agent Carter would at least rate a mention.

Pepper usually liked to work ahead, but Chemistry was kicking her butt and she had a five page paper on Byron due for AP English, so she skipped the reading Tuesday night, hoping to keep clear of Mr. Felix’s notice. So when the slide came up about the Howling Commandos and Mr. Felix began naming them, Pepper was taking notes like crazy.

“And this here, is of course, Steve Rogers’s best friend, James Buchanan Barnes, known to his friends as Bucky,” the teacher said, pointing to a very ruggedly handsome man.

Pepper struggled to make sure her mouth wasn’t going to gape open. Her best friend, Emily, was sending her looks, but she ignored them all until after class was over. It was impossible. There was no way her soul mate was a dead World War Two soldier. But at least she knew one possibility for the nickname. (God she hoped it wasn’t because of his teeth; so what if that was shallow of her.)

“How weird is that?” Emily asked as they left the classroom. “Isn’t the name on your mark Bucky?”

“Yeah,” she said, walking towards her locker. “Remember when you said it might be because of his teeth?”

Emily sucked in a breath. “Oh god, I hope not.” They walked in silence for a while. “Maybe he’s a history nerd. Or his parents are. I bet there are a ton of Bucky Barnes fans out there who named their kids for him.”

“Let’s hope for that option, cause I don’t know what I’d do if my soul mate had buck teeth,” Pepper whined. Yes, she was shallow; sue her.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

When Tony called her to tell her that he was bringing home a surprise, Pepper rolled her eyes and sighed. She wasn’t sure what she’d done in her life to deserve him. The only good thing about their friendship was that it was exactly that, a friendship. Tony and Rhodey had found each other at MIT and if they wanted to keep it quiet that was their business.

“What is it now, Tony? And it had better not be anything for you to build or fix, you have half a dozen projects in the workshop already.”

“No, god, no, Pep. It’s so much better than that. Make sure that the med team knows we’re coming and clear out one of the private rooms for me?”

Pepper frowned. “Are you okay, Tony? Did someone get hurt?” Then she thought about his last request. “Did you pick up another stray? It’s not Spiderman is it? I know you want to get a look at the web-slinging tech, but this is not the way to do it, Tony.”

“Pffft, this is way cooler than Spiderman,” he said. “Why don’t you meet us at the helipad? We’ll be there in ten. And make sure Lewis is there, Steve’s gonna need her.”

Tony hung up leaving Pepper far more confused than she normally was when dealing with her boss. Fine, she could deal with it and meet him on the roof, after calling Darcy. It had been quite lovely to see her and Steve connect, knowing that Steve had originally not had words. Pepper, at thirty, still hadn’t met her soul mate, but she was fine with that. She was successful, had dated some, and was generally happy with her life. She got into the elevator and made her way to the roof.

“Hey, Pep,” Darcy said, standing by the doors at the roof. “What’s up?”

Pepper shrugged. “I have no idea, Tony just said he found something, was bringing it here and wanted me to see it?”

“And I’m guessing it might have to do with my call from Steve.”

“It could,” Pepper replied over the din of the approaching helicopter.

They watched together as it landed, Tony hopping out first to open the back doors. Steve came around with Clint and together all three of them maneuvered something that looked like a solid metal tube out of the copter and onto a dolly. Then Clint swung the dolly around and both women could see into the porthole.

“Oh, Steve,” Darcy gasped, running to him. “Is that?”

Steve nodded, taking Darcy into his arms. “It’s Bucky. It’s a long story, but it’s really him, Darce.”

Tony was grinning madly as Bruce got out to check something on the tube. “Isn’t this great, Pep? Steve found his BFF. A Buck-sicle for the Capsicle.”

“Yes,” Pepper swallowed. “Just great. I’ll go make sure everything’s okay.” She turned around and went back into the elevator. Right at that moment she was more grateful than ever that no one in the Tower knew what her mark said. She couldn’t deal with this now; she was a professional. She had a company to run. She’d do what Tony had asked of her and then she’d get back to business as usual.

*~*~*~*~*~*

She was avoiding. She knew she was avoiding and she didn’t care. Pepper had made sure things were good for the un-freezing of one James Barnes and then fled to Malibu. She made lame excuses that Tony probably bought, but she knew she wouldn’t be able to avoid New York forever. Especially when Natasha showed up in the mansion during the second week.

“You’re avoiding something,” she said when Pepper walked into the living room after a very nasty board meeting.

Pepper didn’t shriek. Maybe a little. “What are you doing here, Nat?”

“Checking in on a friend,” she said. She looked at Pepper and gestured to one of the wine glasses sitting on the table in front of the couch. “Drink, you look like you could use it. Then you tell me what sent you out here when you’re really not needed.”

Pepper glared. But Nat was right. She leaned over, gulped down the entire glass of wine and then pulled her blouse out of her skirt, hiking it up so Nat could see her mark. Nat took it in and only raised an eyebrow. Pepper pulled her blouse back down.

“So, there’s that.”

“You don’t even know if it’s him,” Nat pointed out. “What are the odds?”

Pepper sighed. “I don’t know, but I really don’t like the coincidence of it all.”

“He’s really very charming,” Nat said. “I can see why Zola picked him. And Steve is much happier now he has his best friend back. He smiles a lot more. Anyone who can make Steve Rogers smile is a good person in my book.”

“Fine, but really, Nat, could they be any cheesier?” Pepper sighed.

“The way Steve tells it, yes.”

Pepper sank into the chair and put her head in her hands. “I’ll go back, tomorrow.”

“Good, it will be amusing to see how it all unfolds,” Nat said.

“No,” Pepper said firmly, looking up at her friend with fire in her eyes. “You will not ask JARVIS to show you any video.”

Natasha didn’t say anything, but smirked as she sipped her wine. Pepper groaned and motioned to her empty glass.

*~*~*~*~*

Bucky felt that he was adjusting well to the future. They were keeping his discovery under wraps for a while, until SHIELD could come up with a good story to the public. Bucky understood propaganda. Steve had introduced him to Darcy and Bucky had loved her like a sister immediately. She was sassy and sarcastic and everything that Steve needed in his life.

He met the rest of the team, the Avengers. He and Clint got along well as snipers; he couldn’t quite figure out Natasha and Bruce was a very quiet presence, something Bucky appreciated when the modern world got to be too much sometimes. He had yet to meet Thor, but Doctor Foster seemed nice enough. Tony Stark on the other hand, was just as flashy as his father had seemed on stage.

“I went to the first Expo you know,” he said one afternoon. Somehow he’d ended up in the communal living area with Stark, watching something called _Iron Chef._ “What happened to the flying cars your pop promised us?”

“Weren’t feasible,” Tony remarked. “And he got sucked into the whole Rebirth Project. The thing that made Rogers…” he waved a hand.

“Ah, so I got him to thank for making my best bud look like a god damn Greek statue.”

Tony huffed out a laugh. “Partly.”

They sat in silence for the rest of the episode and half of the next one. Bucky could feel Tony’s eyes on him.

“What? I got something on me?”

“No, it just… you’re not what I expected,” Tony said.

Bucky raised an eyebrow. “How could you be expecting anything? Didn’t know I was alive.”

“Well, there’s…” Tony looks sheepish. “You know about my assistant?”

“How could I not?” Bucky snorted. “You talk about her all the time. If Darce hadn’t told me you were with that other fella, I’da thought you were soul mates.”

“It’s an assumption a lot of people make. It’s helped me and Rhodey out a lot,” Tony said. “Anyway, she has a name. As part of her mark. Your name. And I really don’t believe in coincidences.”

Bucky stared at him. He knew what his personal assistants mark said? “Back in my day,” he began – and God, he felt like Old Mister Wilkes saying that. Wilkes had served in the Great War, coming home with lungs worse off than Steve’s – “We didn’t talk about our marks. To family, yes, maybe a best friend, but never a complete stranger.”

Tony shrugged. “Times change.”

Bucky left without finishing the episode. Later he remembered that Steve had said Tony liked playing pranks and chalked the whole thing up to Tony pulling his leg. But part of his mind did wonder.

*~*~*~*~*~*

“So what’s this dame like?” Bucky asked one morning at breakfast. He was in the communal kitchen with Steve and Darcy, the news on in the background.

“Dame?” Steve asked. “One, you gotta be more specific, and two, update the lingo, Buck. Women don’t like to be called dames anymore.”

“I dunno,” Darcy said. “I kinda like it when you use forties speak on me, especially when you…”

“ _Darcy_ ,” Steve hissed.

Bucky laughed. “Like I didn’t suspect you were getting any on the regular. With a gal like Darce? Please. And I meant Tony’s assistant, Potts. He’s always talking about her, but I’ve yet to meet her or know what she looks like.”

Darcy picked the remote off the counter and pressed a button. The television flicked through a few channels until she reached one of the news ones with an interview being conducted. There was a man with silver hair talking and then the picture switched to this _stunning_ redhead. The banner at the bottom of the screen identified her as Pepper Potts.

Bucky whistled. “I didn’t know da… women like her still existed anymore,” he said. “Other than you and Tasha, of course,” he said to Darcy.

“Of course,” she replied, grinning at him.

“She’s a very classy lady,” Steve said.

“I can be classy,” Bucky argued.

Steve just gave him a look, Darcy laughed and Bucky threw a piece of bacon at Steve.

*~*~*~*~*~*

Bucky had been at the Tower almost two weeks and was going a little stir crazy. SHIELD was still dragging its heels about how to let the general public know he wasn’t dead. Learning about the new century only took up so much time in his day. And he couldn’t rely on Steve to keep him company. Steve had Darcy now and Bucky wasn’t going to begrudge his best friend happiness.

He was lounging in one of the chairs in the communal lounge, re-reading the first Lord of the Rings book. He and Steve had read The Hobbit when it had been first published and Bucky had been very excited when he’d heard Tolkien had written more. But even the adventures of Frodo couldn’t keep his attention.

“Hey, JARVIS?” he asked, comfortable now with the AI that ran the Tower.

“Yes, Sergeant?”

“Who do I ask about getting different books? Can’t exactly go and get a library card.”

“I shall inquire for you, Sergeant.”

Bucky thanked him and turned back to the book. He wasn’t sure how much time had passed when he heard the click of heels. He knew that Darcy preferred boots and Natasha was out of the country right now, so who the hell was coming to see him? He lowered the book a fraction and was hit with the full and awesome beauty of one Pepper Potts, in person. She stopped in front of his chair, smile serene but body confident.

“How can I help you, Sergeant? Or do you prefer James?” she said.

Bucky’s breath caught. Those were his words. She’d said his words. Was she…? He stumbled a brief moment for a response. “Everyone calls me Bucky, but you can call me yours.”

Pepper’s face fell as she sighed and put a hand over it. “God, really?” She removed her hand and glared at him.

“What? Does that mean…? Are we…? Stark was right?” he asked, concerned now.

Pepper stepped back and fell into the chair opposite of his. “Do you know how much I hoped the name wasn’t because you had buck teeth? And how cheesy that is?”

“I…uh… sorry?” he said.

“And don’t think I won’t be bringing up that fact that Tony told you later,” she said.

“Okay.” Then he took a breath. He hadn’t expected this when he’d asked JARVIS for help but it looked like the universe loved throwing him curveballs. “Look, uh… can I call you Pepper?”

“Yes, fine, it’s what everyone else calls me,” she said, waving a hand at him.

“Okay, Pepper,” he said. “I used to be better at this.” He sat back in the chair. “At talking to women. Guess meeting my soul mate kinda threw me.”

Pepper looked up at him, her expression unreadable. “No, it’s… I thought you’d be someone who named their kid after a war hero. Not the actual war hero.”

“That why you left the Tower?”

“A little,” she said. “Nat told me you were a good guy.”

Bucky felt his ears get a little hot at that. “Don’t know about that, but, look… We don’t have to, I mean… I’m not the kinda guy who thinks just ‘cause I got your words and you got mine, we’re gonna be fine. Doesn’t work like that in the real world. I spent most of my life without ‘em. If you don’t want to… I’ll be okay with that.”

The room was silent for a moment as his words lay there between them.

“James… Bucky…,” she began. “Can I…? I need a few days. But what you just said, it does make you a good guy. One of the better ones I’ve ever met. Maybe we can be friends first?”

“I’d like that,” he said. He stood from the chair and crossed over to her, offering his hand. She took it and he pulled her up. “Nice to meet you, I’m Bucky.”

She laughed at that, a light and happy sound. “Hi, Bucky, I’m Pepper.”

They shook and then Pepper excused herself to deal with Stark Enterprises business. He liked her. She was a business women, which meant she was strong and confident. And she was easy on the eyes. Bucky was looking forward to getting to know Miss Pepper Potts. Though if Steve was going to try and offer romance advice, Bucky was going to laugh in his face.

*~*~*~*~*~*

Pepper knew that if she waited much longer, Natasha was going to show up and pester her about her soul mate. She just needed… time. It wasn’t every day you found out the person you were meant to be with was a long thought dead World War Two soldier _and_ Captain America’s best friend. She wondered how James, how Bucky, would feel about her making the first move. She was debating making reservations somewhere and letting JARVIS tell Bucky when there was a knock at her office door.

She looked up, half expecting to see Natasha, but it was her assistant, Lydia. She was holding a small vase of daffodils. Pepper gestured for her to come in. Lydia smiled and placed the vase on the corner of her desk.

“What did Mr. Stark do this time?” she asked.

Pepper laughed. “Tony didn’t do anything. Or if he did, I haven’t heard about it yet. Thank you, Lydia.”

“Of course, Miss Potts, will that be all?”

Pepper nodded. Lydia left and Pepper moved the vase, burying her nose in the blossoms. Then she noted the card and plucked it from between the flowers. She wondered what Tony had to say for himself.

_Pepper,_

_Hope you don’t mind me calling you that, but Miss Potts seemed formal for a bouquet of flowers. Here’s to fresh starts. If you’re free, would you meet me in the small dining room at say, 1:00ish? No pressure._

_James_

The back of the card was a picture of daffodils with a line at the bottom about their various meanings. One was new beginnings. Pepper smiled to herself before paging Lydia to check her schedule.

*~*~*~*~

Bucky willingly admitted to himself that he was nervous. He thought he knew how to woo a da… woman, but in this bright new future were his skills still relevant? He’d let Darcy help him figure his way around the internet before plowing into various search engines and dating advice sites. What he found there made him mostly shake his head. Did modern men really buy into that malarkey? But there were a few that told him his ideas were not totally old fashioned.

So he dug deep into his memory, recalling one of the many books his ma had kept around, one he’d read in desperation when he had the flu one winter. Then he enlisted JARVIS’s help in ordering the flowers and finding out what kind of ingredients the Tower had on hand. He took a day or so to mess around, testing and tasting. The flowers would arrive today; Bucky just hoped that Pepper would show.

He was sautéing the vegetables when he heard the familiar click-clack of heels. He couldn’t turn to see her, but it felt like there was a weight off his shoulders.

“That smells divine,” she said. “I didn’t know you cooked.” He heard the scrape of a chair and knew she was sitting at the table.

“Had to. Stevie could burn water, so it was mostly out of necessity. Then I found I liked doin’ it. Not much call for this kind of food though in the middle of a war. Been a while since I was able to indulge,” he said. He removed the pan from the heat and ladled the veggies over rice which was sitting on plates. “Nearly fainted with all the choices. Back then we were lucky to get any kind of meat on the table.”

“Well, anything you want or need, just ask JARVIS,” she said.

“That’s what he said,” Bucky replied, pulling the pork chops out of the oven and putting one on each plate. He glanced over and blessed the universe for shorter skirts. “I hope you ain’t one of those da… women who eats only salads.”

“No,” she half-laughed. “I enjoy food far too much.”

He laid the plate in front of her before setting his opposite her and pulling his own chair out to sit. “Enjoy.”

They kept the conversation light, more of a getting to know you than anything else. Pepper talked a little of her family and about what she did as head of Stark Enterprises. Bucky told a few stories about him and Steve as kids that left her laughing. He liked her laugh. As the meal came to a close he decided he might as well bring up something he’d been wondering for a while.

“So, Pepper,” he said. “Can you tell me what a fella’s gotta do to get out of this place? It’s a nice Tower and all, but I’m feeling a bit stir crazy.”

Pepper set her silverware down and pushed the plate off to the side. “I was wondering when this would come up. It all depends on you, Bucky.”

“Me? How?”

“Well no one knows you’re alive, outside of everyone in the Tower.”

Bucky thought about this. “What about the staff? The people who clean the rooms and all that?”

“Everyone who works for Tony has to sign a stack of non-disclosure forms,” she said. At Bucky’s confused look, she explained. “It means they can’t say anything or we sue them.”

“Okay,” he said. “But what about reporters? Darcy told me about how I was brought here. I’ve seen the …” he searched for the right word. “Helicopters out there and on TV.”

“There’s a no fly zone around the Tower and JARVIS scrambles signals in a mile radius. No camera is that good.”

Bucky got up and took their plates to the sink. “So, then what do I have to do?”

Pepper smiled softly. “If you don’t have a suit, I’ll bring someone in. We are going to have a press conference.”

“You are scarily efficient,” he said, coming back around to pull her chair out for her.

“I have to be,” she said. She stood and kissed his cheek. “Thank you for lunch. I enjoyed it.”

He grinned. “I’m glad. Let me know when this thing will be, I think I’d like to take you out soon. Or you could take me, I’m good either way. And I know this probably makes me sound old-fashioned, but it’ll be on my dime.”

“JARVIS will make sure you know,” she laughed. “I don’t mind old-fashioned. Now, I really have to go.”

She smiled and left the kitchen. Bucky watched her, maybe admiring the way her legs looked under her skirt. He was still a guy after all. He was really looking forward to spending more time with her, getting to know her. Having Pepper Potts as his soulmate was going to be worth the time spent not having words, he thought.

*~*~*~*~*~

Two days later, Pepper sent Bucky a message about the planned press conference. The next morning she arrived at the office to find another bouquet of flowers on her desk. The card told her they were purple anemone for anticipation. She looked at the note.

_Pepper,_

_Have a suit. Can’t wait for you to see me in it._

_Bucky_

“Cocky,” she murmured to herself. But it was a different kind of cocky to what she was used to. She found herself looking forward to the upcoming melee of reporters rather than dreading it. She found her best power suit and headed down to the conference room. She looked out to see that it was full to bursting. Then she heard the elevator doors open and turned to see Bucky stepping out. Damn.

He grinned at her and she went a little weak at the knees. There was the smile that the books said had all the ladies swooning. Then he was walking over to her and kissing her cheek.

“Hope you liked the flowers,” he said.

“They were lovely,” she replied. “Are you ready for this?”

“Sure, let’s get this over with, I have ideas about where I’m going to take you.”

Pepper’s heart raced at that. She took a moment to breathe deeply and stepped out into the room. The reveal of Bucky was, as she predicted, a shock to everyone. The questions flew left and right, but Pepper stood there unmoving until they calmed down enough so she could point to each of the reporters in turn.

“Yes, Callie McDonnell for _People_. Is it true that you and Captain Rogers were intimate?”

Pepper almost answered, but Bucky nudged her, willing to take the question. “No, it’s not,” he said. They didn’t need to know about anything he and Stevie had done in private. “Steve found his soul mate when he woke up. You’ve seen them out, and hell you’ve taken pictures of them. So please let him be happy and stop all the nonsense about us being lovers. Not that there’s anything wrong with two fellas or two dames bein’ in love.”

“Do you have a soul mate, Sergeant?” a man in the front asked.

“Not that it’s any of your business, but I do. And you ain’t gettin’ their name.”

There were some more questions about his service in the war, about living in the forties compared to now and about his capture. Pepper stepped in to wrap things up. “Thank you all for coming. Sergeant Barnes will be entering public life now and I hope that you will extend him the courtesy of privacy as you have the other Avengers. He will be joining the team once he passes some evaluations. I doesn’t have a call sign yet, but I will put out a memo when he does. Thank you again.”

She turned, ignoring any more questions and Bucky followed her. When they got back to the staging area, she relaxed, toeing off her shoes and slumping into a chair. Bucky sat across from her.

“Joining the team?” he asked. “I mean I knew it was gonna happen soon, but this is a surprise.”

She smiled wryly. “You aren’t the only one who can do them.”

“I guess not,” he said. “So, I kind of meant what I said up there. It’s nobody’s business what you are to me. I ain’t like Steve. Yeah, I know I used to be flashy about most of my dates back in the day, but none of your books know about the guys I saw. Or all of the women.” He lounged back in his chair, trying to look relaxed, but Pepper could see he was tense. “You are… well the universe says you’re it for me. And I don’t know if it’s true. I’d kind of like to find out, but without all the hoopla.”

“Bucky…” she started.

He held up a hand, asking for patience. “I know you’re the head of a multinational company. You have to be seen in public.” He paused, fiddling with a stray bit of string on the chair. “I figure you and Stark can still do all those things. But us… I want us to be private. For now. Til we know how we are.”

She thought about this for a moment. She wanted to know if they would work too. “JARVIS has a list of out of the way places I like to go to by myself. You pick and he’ll make the reservations for you, under my name because they know me.”

“That sounds good,” he said. “Now, as good as this thing fits,” he plucked at the suit, “I’d kinda like to get outta it. See you later, Pepper.”

He got up out of his chair and as he went by her, bent to kiss her cheek again. She was growing to like that. It had been too long since she’d had that kind of attention from anyone. Pepper was looking forward to seeing what kind of man her soul mate was.

*~*~*~*~*~*

Bucky had just changed into sweats and a t-shirt when JARVIS announced he had a visitor. Bucky wasn’t sure why whoever it was couldn’t just knock, but he shrugged and went to the door. He opened it to Steve getting ready to knock. JARVIS was a little pre-emptive with the announcements.

“Hey, Stevie, what’s up?” he asked as he moved to let Steve in.

“So, I was watching the news and they interrupted to broadcast your press conference,” he replied. He turned and Bucky could see the glare on his face. It was his “I’m disappointed in you” face. He wondered how well that worked on the Nazis or other enemies.

“Did pretty good up there, if I do say so myself,” he said, grinning. He was going to ignore the elephant in the room for as long as he could. Which wasn’t gonna be long, with the way Steve was glaring.

“Why didn’t you tell me you got your words?” Steve asked.

Bucky shrugged. “Just never came up.”

“Do you know who it is?”

“Stevie,” Bucky whined. “Why you gotta be like this?”

“Cause I want you to be happy, Buck. I saw how you were when I said I got mine. And I know you might be a little disappointed it’s not me….”

“Steve,” Bucky laughed, “Buddy, I love you, but not like that. We decided back in ’38 it wasn’t gonna be like that with us. “

Steve had the decency to blush a little. “Yeah, we did. Sorry.” He plopped himself down on Bucky’s couch. “But I mean it. I know what it’s like to get a little lost in the future. Having someone… for me having Darcy has helped a lot.”

“We’ve met,” Bucky answered, sitting next to Steve. “But I ain’t telling you who they are. I want us to see if… if we’re good. If the universe chose right.”

“Okay, but when you know…”

“You’ll be the first person I tell, promise,” Bucky sighed, rolling his eyes. “Now, since you’re here, why don’t you show me how to work this game system here? Tony says I should try something called Mario Kart.” Steve grinned and Bucky thought maybe he should be a little afraid of the look in his eyes.

*~*~*~*~*~*~

About a week after the press conference, Pepper got another delivery of flowers. Blue irises and heather: faith and hope, and admiration. The card was a date and time with Bucky’s signature at the bottom. He must have chosen a place. Everything on her list was quite fancy and Pepper debated buying something new for their first date. She shook her head. He wasn’t expecting the newest fashions, just her. She had JARVIS make a note of the date and time for her official calendar and went back to work.

There was minor incident in Maryland involving some as yet un-named organization that required the Avengers. And then Tony got into it with a reporter and Pepper had to dive in and got so caught up, she’d forgotten about her date until Lydia appeared in her office and started moving stacks of files off her desk.

“What?” she asked, looking up, slightly dazed. “Lydia, I wasn’t done with those.”

“I know, Miss Potts, but you have dinner reservations on your schedule and you need to go get ready.”

Bucky. Right. She really should cancel, but then again… She needed to take a break and what better way to do it than spend the evening with the charming man who was her soul mate? She thanked Lydia and left the office to go get ready. She didn’t linger long over her preparations. It was going to be a simple first date. But it didn’t mean that she skimped on her regimen. Lotion and perfume. Lingerie that made her feel feminine and powerful. A dress that covered it all while being both tasteful and sexy. She stuck with low heels tonight, she was not looking to tower over Bucky like she did Tony.

When she was putting on the finishing touches, JARVIS sent out a low ping, his version of a polite cough.

“Yes?” she asked, sliding gold hoops into her ears.

“Sergeant Barnes is waiting in the garage for you, Miss Potts.”

“He’ll be driving?” she asked.

“No, Happy has the small limo ready and waiting for you.”

Pepper nodded. She was still dealing with some red tape when it came to getting Bucky back into the world. “Tell them I’ll be down shortly.”

“Yes, Miss Potts. I have the elevator waiting for you.”

Pepper smiled and nodded to the nearest camera. She checked her look in the mirror by the door before leaving. JARVIS made the ride down smooth and Pepper hummed along to the music he provided so she wouldn’t worry about tonight the whole way down. When the doors opened and she saw Bucky, Pepper couldn’t suppress a smile. He was wearing another suit, leaning against the limo which was pulled up to the elevator. He was holding a few white chrysanthemums.

“So, what are their meanings?” she asked as she stepped.

“They have a couple,” Bucky replied automatically. “Fidelity, truth, but I personally like joy.”

“They’re beautiful,” she said, taking them and inhaling their scent.

“So are you,” Bucky said. He took her hand and kissed the back of it. “Wasn’t sure I’d be able to keep up with you. I’ve seen some of your party dresses, thanks to Darcy.”

She smiled, leaning over to kiss his cheek. “You’re doing fine. Whoever is giving you fashion advice is doing wonderfully.”

“Ah,” he said, ducking his head as he opened the limo door. “Mostly myself, with some help from JARVIS.”

She laughed as he helped her into the car. “If he were human, I’d give him a raise.”

The ride was quick and they talked about fashion, getting Bucky more suits and the torture device that was the modern woman’s high heel. Bucky had chosen a tiny little bistro where the owners knew Pepper but were discrete. They had spent that first lunch doing a little of the getting to know you stuff, so this dinner was spent going past that.

She told him about her struggles with being a female CEO and handling Tony. He countered by telling her about dealing with a pre-serum Steve. They discussed dreams, food (her allergy, his dislike of liver), and the future.

“Do you mind if we talk a little about business-like things?” he asked.

“Like what?” she asked, she didn’t mind it so much, as long as it wasn’t a drawn out discussion.

“You know,” he said, leaning back in his chair after dessert. “What can I do when I’m not out with the team? I’m not like Steve, I don’t see myself going and speaking to college kids or visiting children’s hospitals.”

Pepper frowned. “What did you want to do, before?”

“Had a little talent with art, but nothin’ like Steve. Was always better with my hands. Liked taking things apart, seeing how they worked. I was a mechanic for a spell,” Bucky answered.

“I might have just the thing,” Pepper smiled. “Let me check into a few things and I’ll let you know.”

When they got back to the Tower, Bucky insisted on walking her to her door. She turned to him when they got there. “I had a good time,” she said.

“I’d like to do this again,” he said. “You know how to dance?”

Pepper grinned. “Swing, jitterbug or jive?”

“Now you’re talking,” he smirked. He leaned in and Pepper’s breath caught. “Only if you want to,” he said softly.

She answered by closing the gap and pressing her lips to his. His hand came up to the side of her face, cradling it as he kissed slow and smooth. Pepper’s hands went to his chest, encountering hard muscle and warm skin. Bucky’s other arm wrapped around her waist, pulling her in close. She wrapped her arms around his neck, sighing as she licked his bottom lip. He answered with a groan as he backed off, making the kiss chaste again.

“Not that I didn’t like that,” he said, his breath ghosting against her lips. “But my ma taught me to be a gentleman. I should let you go.”

“Okay,” she breathed, opening her eyes. “”Goodnight, Bucky.”

“Night, Pepper.”

She opened her door and slipped into her apartment. His eyes were on her until the door closed. She slumped against the back of the door, her knees weak and her heart pounding. While she’d had mixed feelings about her mark her entire life, Pepper was fairly confident the universe had gotten it right.

*~*~*~*~*~*~

Two days after their first ‘official’ date, Bucky already had plans for taking Pepper dancing. She was one hell of a woman. She would be getting a bouquet of orchids today for her ‘proud and glorious femininity’. Not that he didn’t admire the other aspects of her, he’d seen her sparring in the gym with Natasha in passing. He vowed never to get on her bad side. JARVIS had interrupted his breakfast to tell him that he was needed in one of the workshops. When he got there, Tony was waiting for him.

“So, William Tell, Pep tells me you want to work,” he said, looking a little frenetic. Bucky briefly wondered how much sleep he had gotten lately.

“I do,” he answered warily. “I’m just not sure what you have to do with it.”

“Well, I have a whole fleet of cars in the garage…”

“Most of which I have no clue on how to fix, and I’m sure you have professionals or that.”

Tony lost some of his bounce. “I do, but there are some older ones there and finding trustworthy people to handle them is hard. But I have other ideas, follow me.”

Bucky ended up helping Tony with several things. And he did take a look at the cars and agreed to tinker with them when it was needed. At some point Steve had come down and let Bucky mess with his bike, so it was a productive afternoon.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~**

They went on two dinner and dancing dates. A third was postponed when they had to help the Fantastic Four deal with von Doom. Bucky came back to find Pepper had set up food in his apartment and she came down when he was cleaned up. She was as dressed down as he’d ever seen her; yoga pants, Stark Industries t-shirt and her hair up in a messy ponytail. But he shouldn’t judge as he was just out of the shower in sweats and a tee that he was pretty sure he’d borrowed from Steve at some point.

“You didn’t have to do this you know,” he said, rubbing at his hair with a towel. “I woulda been fine.”

“I’m sure you would have, but I had to see for myself,” she said, pouring him half a glass of wine. “I used to wait for Tony to come back from battles. But it wasn’t quite the same.”

Bucky picked up a sandwich and nibbled at a corner. “Worried about me, Pep?”

“No, well… maybe,” she confessed. She turned to him and he could tell she was upset. “You and Clint are the only non-super ones out there. So I think I have a right to be a little worried about the man I love going out there and fighting bad guys with nothing but Kevlar and a rifle.”

Her statement hung in the air for a minute. Bucky dropped the towel he was still holding and stepped around the kitchen table. Pepper’s eyes were wide, like she’d only just realized what she’d said.

“You mean it?” he asked, putting a hand to her waist. She nodded, like she didn’t trust herself to talk. “Good, ‘cause I’m pretty sure it’s mutual.”

He pulled her in close and kissed her. She relaxed into his arms, touching him everywhere. He moved his hand up, taking the tie out of her hair. She started to tug at his shirt.

“Tell me,” she demanded as he broke away to strip off the tee.

“Love you, Pep,” he replied, diving back to her mouth. He picked her up then, swinging her into his arms despite her exclamation of protest. “JARVIS, Miss Potts is unavailable for the rest of the day.”

“Yes, Sergeant.”

*~*~*~**~*~*~*

When Pepper got to her desk the next morning, there was already a vase sitting on it. Orange roses for passion and tulips for a declaration of love. Lydia was curious.

“Are you sure they aren’t from Mr. Stark? I don’t know who else might be sending you flowers,” she said, pausing. “Is it that mysterious dinner date you had a few weeks ago?”

“He’s… he someone special,” Pepper replied, smiling. “Now, what is my first appointment?”

The rest of her morning went smoothly. Bucky called up to ask if she was free for lunch, so she joined him down in the common kitchen. Steve and Darcy were also there, though neither of them noticed her arrival. She almost turned around until Bucky intercepted her.

“I wanted this to be a private lunch, but they came down as I started cooking and I didn’t have the heart to turn them away,” he explained.

“It’s fine,” she said. “But how are you..?”

He ducked his head, looking contrite. “Actually, would you mind if they were the first to know? If that’s okay with you, I can wait if you want.”

She leaned up and kissed him. “I’d love for them to know.”

Bucky grinned and took her hand, leading her into the kitchen. Darcy turned first and gave them both an eyebrow. Steve followed her gaze and smiled.

“Somethin’ you wanna tell us, Buck?” he asked.

“Laugh it up, punk,” Bucky said. “Pepper and me are soul mates.”

Darcy squealed and jumped up to hug the both of them. “Really? Oh, wow. When did you find out?”

“We’ve known for a while,” Pepper said, hugging Darcy back. “We just wanted to keep it private while we worked it out.”

“Now I have to know everything,” Darcy said after she hugged Bucky. Pepper let herself be led to the table while Steve and Bucky exchanged a quick hug and a punches to the shoulder. She only hoped that when they went public it would be this easy.

*~*~*~*~*

Tony wanted to throw them a huge party when he found out, but Pepper managed to talk him down. Instead they continued on as they had been, quietly. Bucky was happy to do it, it meant that he had her all to himself and didn’t have to share her with the public. But as they approached the year mark of being together, he knew that he would want it to change soon.

Steve and Darcy were getting hitched soon, Bucky was going to be best man. He’d gone to Steve for advice on jewelry and they’d had a bit of a moment when the both realized how lucky they were. Now Bucky was just waiting for the right time to ask the question. He was thinking about revisiting the bistro where they’d had their first date. He was trying to arrange a reservation when Pepper called him over the intercom.

“Can you come to my office?” she asked.

“Anything wrong?”

“No, just something we need to talk about that can’t wait,” she said.

“Sure,” he replied, telling JARVIS that he’d try to make the reservation later.

When he got to her office a few minutes later, she was sitting at her desk, Tony sitting across from her. She looked both happy and worried.

“Is there something goin’ on here I need to know about?” he said as he took the seat next to Tony.

Tony spoke up. “Um… yeah. It’s… Rhodey’s thinking of retiring.”

“Good for him,” Bucky said.

“We want to get married,” Tony said.

Ah. There it was. If Tony got married to his soul mate then Pepper wouldn’t be able to hide behind the rumor and innuendo that Tony and she were together. “So, he finally propose?” Bucky asked casually.

“Please,” Tony said. “He proposed when I was twenty-five. But it wasn’t legal then and he had his career to think about. But I wanted you two to know because it affects you.”

“Thank you, Tony,” Pepper said. “Can Bucky and I talk for a minute?”

“Sure thing,” he said, waving. “I got plans to make anyway.”

They waited until he left and closed the door behind him before saying anything.

“So, there’s that,” Pepper said with a sigh. “We can do another press conference.”

“No,” Bucky said. “It’s still no one’s business, Pep. I don’t care who you are. If I want to be out with you, go places with you, marry you, those buzzards need to keep out of my way.”

“Marry me?” Pepper squeak-whispered.

“Aw hell,” he muttered. Then he stood up and pulled the box out of his pocket. He’d taken to carrying it around with him, just in case. “Yeah. I was gonna do it proper at that bistro with a bouquet made of one of each of the flowers I sent you in the beginning. But I wanna marry you, Pepper. If you’ll have me.” He opened the box and set it on the desk in front of her.

It was a marquis cut garnet, with a smaller diamond on either side. Pepper sat there, speechless. Bucky was beginning to feel a little awkward. He was getting ready to take it back when she looked up.

“Yes,” she said.

“Yeah?” he said, grinning. She nodded and he took it out of the box to slide it on her finger. Then she came up out of her chair and flung herself around her desk to hug and kiss him. He chuckled as he kissed her back, holding her close. “Love you,” he whispered against her lips.

“Love you,” she answered. She took the rest of the day off so they could celebrate.

The wedding, six months later, was a small affair. Tony gave Pepper away, Steve was Bucky’s best man. They held it in the Tower. The press had been continually trying to find out if Pepper had a soul mate and if so, who they were ever since Tony and James Rhodes had very publicly tied the knot in Central Park. Pepper had laid out a good argument for letting one media outlet have the news first. They agreed on a tiny start-up entertainment magazine. Any compensation and profits were being sent to local Veteran’s Associations. Whatever storm came from the revelation, they would miss; Bucky insisted on taking Pepper to Europe for their honeymoon.


End file.
